Rock Island Model Rosters

[kf4jqd]

What if????

Here's a question. What if the Rock Island Line would make a come back? What would they haul? Would it be as grand as it was 100 years ago? Would the City of Rock Island host it? Would there be another legal war between the river boats and railroad? No Abe Lincoln to save the Rock's butt this time!

What if...What if???

If the cost of gas going up. No one wants to fly anymore. Maybe they should! I heard today on the news that CF Frieght is filing bankruptcy. The trucking industry is falling like the railroads did 20 years ago?


My Memories...I'm only 31

I remember going to church at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Moline, ILL. I remember the Rock's tracks only a half a block away. The priest would have to stop his serman because the locos would blow thier horns!

I also remember my best friend Jason's back yard had Rock tracks on river drive in Moline that went right into Internation Harvester. (JI Case now George!) We waved at the engineer as he went by. I remember waiting for the train at the crossing. It was haulling tractors from John Deere, IH, and JI Case. Speaking about Case. Over in Bettendorf, Iowa. That Case plant had many tracks at it's plant.

My dad said that during WWII, Case made jeeps that the Rock hauled out.

Sadly, I remember the tv news cast when they showed the last Rock Island train pulling into the station. A very sad day for us all.

What if...this would come back. A hope for the famous line. I guess that I can only dream!

Andy

 

[IMRL393]

Andy -

My 1996 Rock Island regional is HQ'd in Davenport, along the river by the Iowa-American water plant. We haul coal to the Bettendorf power plant, steel to IPSCO down toward Muscatine, grain (this IS Iowa) and grain products to/from Clintion Corn / ADM in Clintion and Grain Processing / Kent feeds in Muscatine, chemicals/chemical products to/from DuPont in Clintion, and ag. chemicals to/from Monsanto in Muscatine. And, of course, red and green farm equipment (choose your favorite color - mine is John Deere green!).

We also run a QC Rocket from the QCA to Chicago - to include the airport, which drove the QC airport out of business! Another Rocket (Corn Belt) goes to Des Moines and Omaha, and another meets up with the AMTRAK Zephyr in southern Iowa. And "football" specials to Iowa City. in season!

Just thought you would like to know where the Rock is "today" !



Actually, of course, this is what the IMRL hauled (and ICE will haul). No Rockets, durn it! Would like to have a train from here to Chicago!

Well, that's MY answer to youir questions !!!!



The dream is alive in MY basement !!!!

- George


PS

Youngster !!! I'm ...er...mid...50s....(Can that be right? I sure don't feel it...most days...and I usually don't act like it!)

 

[Wolv33]

It's about time the darn forum came back up. I was thinking, oh no! Now I am gonna have to find another nother forum. Was thinking first RR-line now the-gauge. Whew!

Ahh yes, memories. Heck I am only 33, and I remember the ROCK fondly, just like Andy does. Although, when they blew their horn for the grade crossing on West Division St., it usually woke us up out of bed at night (they were in our backyard early in the morning). They couldn't go very fast because their route went through town, and they always had switching to do near the foundry. But, I was very sad to see those red/yellow and blue/white diesels depart for shortline yard.

Andy,

In my world, kinda like George and Mike and even Shane, the ROCK survived its bankruptcy.

In my world though, they survived because of the MWDLRR. Our corporation conglomerate took them in, and allowed the line to keep its employees and its name, and we provide the acquisition to the line for new funding for motive power and rolling stock, MOW track work, maintenance and upkeep for the line, and we approve or disapprove any new business ventures that the ROCK wishes to participate in.

The ROCK being under a huge conglomerate like MWEC (Midwestern Enterprises Corporation), the company that owns the Midwestern Double-line Railroad and all of its subsidiaries, has managed to double its profits because of the MWEC's management teams. We have also done something similar for Amtrak. We basically bought the company and put in better management while at the same time we allowed Amtrak to keep its employees and name, and continue all routes of service.

Recently we acquired most of the Missouri Pacific, while the remainder went to the Reckless and Veiled Railroad and are in the process of rebuilding, cleaning and repairing all motive power and rolling stock. Until this acquisition is complete, and all MOPAC equipment has been restored, we will not consider this final.

Currently the Midwestern Double-line Railroad (MWDLRR) consists of the following:

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (separate entity from Burlington Northern), Great Northern West ( subsidiary of the old Great Northern that survived the BN merger and continued to operate a branch line on its own till our acquisition), Burlington Northern, Rock Island (trackage in Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, and Oklahoma), Burlington Northern-Santa Fe (a failed merger railroad that stretches from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa to parts of Arkansas and Missouri, to spots as far West as California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Wyoming, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Nevada-when the BNSF merger was dissolved, 4 came out of it: Burlington Northern, Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy, BNSF, and ATSF (Santa Fe). BNSF is just a small percentage of BN rolling stock and motive power still painted in the BNSF H1 and H2 schemes-all remaining Santa Fe equipment was returned to the name ATSF), Missouri Pacific (mostly Missouri, Iowa, and Arkansas territory) and finally Amtrak.

We are also in acquisition talks with Wisconsin Central, and talk is that WC may be joining our railroad conglomerate. Their upkeep is far exceeding their profits, even though their painting and cleaning facilities are world class and many railroads have come to use these facilities again and again.

Finally, we are in lease negotiations with EMD, LMX, and FURX, and they have all agreed sales to our sister line, the MWELX (Midwestern Enterprises Lease Exchange) so we also have the ability to lease motive power to other smaller lines that need that type of service.

You can read all about our acquistions and leasing operations at our corporate website:

http://members.fortunecity.co.uk/wolv33/mwdlrr.html

Of course...NONE of my lines are a part of George's nor Mike's. We still have to negotiate trackage rights, and I believe I would consider George and Mike sister corporations but entirely separate entities. Hope that clears up any confusion guys.

Have a good morning!

 

[Wolv33]

Mike,

Just a reminder, since this thread went to the 3rd page....

I left a huge post (ehh I type like 125 wpm so it doesnt surprise me) for you on the end of page 2. Please let me know. Thanx!

 

[kf4jqd]

Just maybe...just maybe

Just maybe, some rich billionair would buy these small railroads up. Could he legally use The Rock Island name and logo again?

With the slowing of the economy. The trucking indurstry hurting. After Sept 11 people are afraid to fly. Maybe it's a good idea to look at the railroads again.

We all know that government can't manage money. This means Amtrak must go. I would pay to ride a superliner of The Rocks!. I wont leave out the other railroads too!

Now all this said. What color shcemes would you like to see. I would like pictures if there's any! I may just draw one up too! I like the blue and white. Blue has always been my favorite color!

Andy

 

[rockislandmike]

I saw the post on Page 2, wolv - I didn't think there was anything else for me to add ???

BTW, if you're looking for some ROCK trucks, there's an eBay auction ending later today. I'll post the pic here. If you're interseted, you should be able to search for "rock island trucks" and get the auction.

 

[rockislandmike]

Just catching up with other questions and items of interest.

* The GP38-2 decals do include *all* the names, at least as far as I remember. I decided on leaving my first GP38-2 the original name (4310 - American Railfan), and numbered the other one 4346 (Navaho Nation). BTW, I finally installed and painted the handrails last night. Very nice units, although I should matte spray them at least before I take photos of 'em.

* I do custom decals myself already; still a hit and miss sort of thing so far, which is the problem. So far I've only done clear decals. Sometimes they turn out really kewl (you'll see what I mean when I get a pic of my railcar servicing building), but sometimes they kinda suck (you'll also see this when I complete the Brownstone & Paradise fleet).

* For that very reason, I've never seen white coal cars. They'd get much too dirty too fast. Come to think of it, the only cars I have seen in white are covered hoppers and tank cars. They seem to remain pristine the longest.

* The 7x12 layout I'm working on right now (frequently called Amarillo or Dodge City) includes two ROCK mainline loops, from Dodge City KS - Amarillo TX - Enid OK - Okeene OK - and back. Exits to Oklahoma City and Wichita KS. Santa Fe mainline passes through Dodge City KS of course, and there's a small interchange facility and yard there.

* Phase II (to commence next summer when my wife and I buy a house and I get possession of half the basement) will include the above as the center peninsula. To the east I will model MP trackage through to Wichita (where the ATSF and ROCK will also end up through staging). To the east, I will model through Pueblo and on to Denver (no more ROCK trackage here, focusing almost solely on MoPac again but with staging for ATSF to Pueblo - and then I will model the DRGW/ATSF Joint Line from Pueblo to Denver). A second peninsula will be split in half by a backdrop, and will model the Brownstone & Paradise (loosely based on the Garden City Western), with trackage from Scott City (MP interchange) - Garden City - Dodge City (via ATSF trackage rights); ATSF trackage will also be included, from Dodge City through Garden City and then exit off the end of the layout into oblivion. Confused??? You'll have to wait until I redraw this plan.

* I didn't hear that CF went bankrupt, only that they laid off 15,000 employees - via an automated voice mail no less (isn't that shitty??). This new *railroad* could use the old ROCK logo and name provided they acquire permission to do so from the legal rightsholders of same. Might take a while to track that info down, but somebody holds those rights...........................

 

[kf4jqd]

My trailors

Here are my semi trailors. They are made by Athearn. I even think Walthers has them on sale right now!

Andy

 

[kf4jqd]

RI pick up trucks

Here are my RI trucks. They're made by Busch.

Andy

 

[IMRL393]

Re: Just maybe...just maybe

Originally posted by kf4jqd
What color schemes would you like to see. I would like pictures if there's any! I may just draw one up too! I like the blue and white. Blue has always been my favorite color!

Andy

For a passenger silver streamliner, I thinks the E6A Rocket "silver" scheme can't be beat! The silver on the loco blends into the silver cars.

Otherwise, ROCK blue or maroon and yellow (I like maroon better than red, although my poll on the CRI&P forum showed red & yellow was the most popular. Of course, Red & Black is great, too (and University of Georgia colors to boot!).

No reason to limit the scheme - why not two or three of the best ???



- George

 

[Wolv33]

Hey guys,

Here is my Intermodal scheme for my ROCK line. Lemme know what you think.

The SD40-2 is just used for a prototype (experimental) photo. The actual number 3000 pertains to a GP40-2... Next, I am going to come up with a coal hopper scheme.

Later.

 

[rockislandmike]

Hey wolv, I think you mentioned you were working on your "waybills" (although I think you called them something else?).

How are you doing them ??? I'm working on mine too, and here's what I've done.

I've decided on the industries I want to have. Many are based on prototype industries that existed at one time in their specific locale (but might not now), others are named after friends (i.e., Heather Leather Shoes in Pueblo CO after my wife; Belyk Bleach in Tucumcari NM named after a good friend of mine who is obsessively clean). Then I determined what kind of cargo would be inbound and/or outbound, and what kind of railcar would be required.

Then I downloaded the industry database from Ry-ops (Yahoo!) into a spreadsheet, and figured out where my industries could obtain their supplies, or ship their products - in most cases, more than one. It gets even more complicated than that afterwards, but that's enough for now.

 

[rockislandmike]

How are you doing the intermodal decal, wolv ??? PS - looks really kewl.

 

[Wolv33]

Mike,

What I have done is basically listed all non-railroad freight and cargo in an Access database. Ummm, what I mean by 'non-railroad' doesn't necessarily mean as it sounds. I mean, I do not list carriers like Chessie, BN, RI, BNSF, Amtrak, etc.

I list Industries like Willamette Industries, Georgia Pacific, Weyerhauser, Tropicana, etc. I list those first as separate shippers (off layout). I then include all my industries and areas to be serviced on the actual layout, and put them into the same database. Each industry is given either OFF-ROUTE or ON-ROUTE status. The OFF-ROUTE being just that, and the ON-ROUTE being anything on the layout.

In the database I list the location of shipper, the type(s) of commodity they ship, the type(s) of commodity they receive and like you, what type(s) of cars that would entail, and what class of freight that would be.

Obviously ANYTHING from an OFF-ROUTE shipper is going to be class-1 freight or Intermodal/Unit. The ON-ROUTE industries are a bit trickier. They have BOTH ON-ROUTE and OFF-ROUTE shippers and receivers. Then I list what railroad line would possibly be able to carry that shipment.

The local freight-I usually choose what railroad gets that duty, and then those units handle the branch lines and most of the local industries ON-ROUTE.

Class-1 railroads would handle the class-1 freight, Intermodal units would handle the Intermodal, Unit trains would handle the bulk unit cargo, and Amtrak would handle passenger service. Although, I am toying with the notion of bringing in passenger service for both BN and RI. Those are still on the negotiation tables. Hahaha.

The location of the OFF-ROUTE shipper is important. This is so I will know what trackage the train will have to come over, and if the train is a staging train instead of a train from our railroad.

These I consider my staging roads:

UP, DRGW, SP, GTW, C&NW, IC, CSX, Conrail, NS, US Army, SOO, CP Rail, CN, and a few others.

I determine these staging trains or 'off-route' trains to be a train that originates from staging (roleplaying an area off the layout), and comes onto the layout at either given intervals, or just out of the blue, does its business that it was sent here to do, uses facilities if it needs to, and then returns to the staging yards.

Not including staging, I have four classes of trains on my railroad:

Local Freight
Class-1 Freight
Intermodal and Unit Trains (Coal, Grain, Chemicals, etc.)
and First Class Passenger

All of the above, with the exception of Local Freight, use the main lines. The Local Freight is more for the local industries and the branch lines as I have said before. It is possible for my class-1 and Intermodal/Unit trains to also be staging trains, since they often have to go across the country to pickup and deliver their cargo. More than likely though, they are simply using the main lines to get freight to large industries (on the layout) as quickly as possible.

As I mentioned above, I also have a small database for my passenger trains. Here it is a bit different. I put down the station, the station's location, the station's purpose, where-to, where-from, and what train handles that route. Of course it is ALL Amtrak for now.

Because of these shipper systems/databases, I was able to draw up a budget for spending on rolling stock and passenger cars. I used this to determine what I would need, then went back to my original list, and found I had WAY TOO MUCH stuff listed for future purchases.

Thank God for that!

Hope you got all that. I know it can get confusing. LOL!

 

[Wolv33]

Mike,

I got 25 sheets of clear, and 25 sheets of white waterslide decal paper. It is for Inkjet printers, and I plan to make my decals with my HP photo-printer. However, I am still waiting on my Microscale stuff that I got for $3 a piece, instead of $5....

Later.

 

[kf4jqd]

CG Gright Banrupt!

It's offical, CF is out of business. There is a local terminal in Wausau. The local TV stations interviewed some truckers on tv today. Rail frieght should come back!

Andy

 

[rockislandmike]

Hey did you guyz know Stewart's releasing a Rock Island Baldwin S-8 this fall ??? I might have to reserve one of those, they look pretty kewl - better looking in maroon (Stewart's will be black), but c'est la vie.

 

[IMRL393]

Another "low number" RI model (sigh).

First the BL2 (only 5 locos) by P2K, then the VO1000 (another 5) by Stewart, then the DL107 (2) by P1k, then the H15-44 (2) by Atlas, now the S8 by Stewart (another 5).

I guess a Bipower is next (only one!) ???

Well, I'm glad for those who have waited for a loco model they have always wanted/ liked, but these locos were not very representative of the Rock Island Lines!

With a total number of 1033 locomotives during the lifetime of the RIL, I feel that loco numbers must exceed at least 1.5% of the fleet (which is 15.495, or 16 locos and over) to be truely "significant" for the Rock Island.

Of course, if you lived in a certain area of the country, you might have seen certain "low number" locos and want one for your layout. A prime example is the Quad City region, where RI #402 (H15-44) and a BL2 (#426) were used to transport Hawkeye football fans to Iowa City! Thus my interest in these low number locos. Likewise, the five VO1000s "lived" in the Chicago and Blue Island area, so if you model there, you would want one. But they were never seen in the QCA, so I don't!

Of course, certain low number locos are important. Who can resist the "Silver Rocket" E6As (only 5, but the best loco scheme ever!). Or the historical significance of the RS1 (only 15, but the FIRST road switcher ANYWHERE and the model for all GPs, etc. to follow!

(Despite its name, the RS class are not just "switchers", but were used for a variety of purposes from suburban commuter passenger service to freight to even "Rocket" passenger motive power in the Arkansas division.)

But except for such cases, I think I will save my money for locos that are more true to the Rock Island Lines!

What I wish for is some of the major locos in different color schemes: blue GP7s (over 100!), or "high number" locos that haven't been modeled, such as the U30C (18).

And I think an understanding of when, where and how the various RI locomotives were used is important to understanding the "mighty fine line"!

So I'll pass on the S8s (two of which never got out of Wichita Falls and Southern paint), thank you, and hope for some better RI models!

My 3-cents (too much hot air for 2-cents!) ....

- George

 

[IMRL393]

Similar locomotives

In my model collection, I tend to "cut corners" (read "save money") when it comes to very similar locos.

Case in point, switchers.

For all but exact rivet counters, a NW2 is about the same as an SW7 (which the RI never had) or a SW 9 or a SW 1200. So my SW9 is a "stand-in" for this series.


The SW8/SW900 is so close to the SW9 (main difference - one less smokestack!), that I doubt I'll get a SW8 model unless P2K finally does something in other than the black scheme. So my SW9 "stands in" for this series of switchers also, as I can't quite justify the cost of a SW8 even to myself, nevermind the wife!

"See honey! There's one less smoke stack on a SW8!"

"Well, why don't you just cut one off and save your money?"

What do you do in this regard with your model collection?

BTW:

In line with these thoughts, I think we should count Athearns non-existant "SW7" cow and calf as a SW9 C&C in our joint roster - what do youi think?

What road number is on the Athearn units, anyway ???


- George

 

[rockislandmike]

904 / 916

<< in RL, the 904 was an SW900, and it doesn't look like they numbered anything 916 so far as I can tell >>